A new state election law that went into effect July 1 has bumped up the qualifying deadline for Indianola municipal elections to just one week away.
Candidates must submit their paperwork by Aug. 11 rather than Sept. 14.
The Democratic primary has also been shifted up from the second Tuesday in November to the second Tuesday in October.
The city operates under a special charter that sets its general election date for the second Tuesday in December, and according to Mayor Steve Rosenthal there are no provisions in the charter that set a specific qualifying or primary date so the city has to follow state guidelines.
David Rushing, chairman of the Indianola Municipal Democratic Executive Committee said, “When we announced this spring the dates of the Indianola primary election, we were advised of them based on the then-current state law.”
Rushing said on Tuesday that City Attorney Gary Austin told him that he had just learned of the new election law.
And according to Austin, House Bill 467 changed the state’s time provisions and now the first primary election must be held 60 days before the general election instead of the usual 30 days.
The qualifying deadline must be 60 days before the primary, which now makes it 5 p.m. next Friday. Anyone thinking about running for city positions needs to have their minds made up and documents filed within the next week.
The new law also extends the period between the primary election and any runoff generated from the primary to three weeks instead of two. Rosenthal added that the one-week extension was a positive thing for municipalities because it’s difficult to put together a runoff in just two weeks.
Rushing said, “While we welcome the move of our primary from November to October, something we have long sought, we regret that our committee was not notified of these significant changes until this week.”
Indianola is one of maybe a dozen or less municipalities under special charter across the state that will be affected by this change since most city elections in Mississippi were held in June.
Qualifiers (as of Wednesday)
Mayor:
Vivian Jenkins
Mario Robinson
Steve Rosenthal
Ward 1 Alderman:
Gary Fratesi
Ward 2 Alderman:
Linda Smith Myles
Darrell Simpson
Ward 3 Alderman:
Ruben Woods
Rickey D. Hoskins
Ward 4 Alderman:
Marvin Elder
Ward 5 Alderman:
Sam Brock
Ricardo Gibson
*All running as Democrats
